Thursday, April 29, 2010

Its time for our end of the month highlight of the Hot, the Loud and the Proud, hosted on A Plant Fanatic in Hawaii and this is my entry for the month.

I’m taking you to tour an anthurium farm in Hawaii island. Anthurium flowers are a real cash crop for many Hawaiian flower growers because they have the ideal growing conditions, minimized costs, and anthuriums can still earn good revenue due to the exotic varieties grown here.

My friend’s place, Tikal Nursery is located in the cloud forests beneath the Mauna Loa volcano and is the ideal location for growing these beautiful plants. Tikal is one of the oldest nurseries and has many rare types that are not typically shown or sold worldwide. Below is a photograph of one of their shade houses, showing how the anthuriums are grown. Even though they get a lot of rain here, there are many dry days so overhead sprinklers are still necessary.

Have you ever seen a double anthurium, it is not widely sold anywhere even in Hawaii. I’m not sure if it would be a popular flower, but in the ground, it looks really spectacular!

This is my friend showing one of their beautiful Obake variety called Obake - Oshiro, isn’t it huge! These sell at a higher price in Hawaii, so I can imagine what they would be selling at more expensive prices world wide. The wonderful thing about these tropical flowers are their longer shelf life, so blooms can easily last up to a month.

This is similar to the larger obake above, this one is called Rainbow and it is ready to be picked when the spadix in the middle is a bright yellow showing it to be at its prime. The older it gets, the spadix starts turning more brown.

I love the pure white varieties, another specialty of this grower and the spadix are also white which is rare, this one is called Rudy’s White after the owner of Tikal Nursery.

There are many rainbow varieties and I’m particularly fond of the very pale green and pink version below.

This true red color is the most popular anthurium that is grown and sold from Hawaii. I think everyone see’s this color of anthurium and readily recognizes its tropical allure. Personally I think these are pedestrian, but its only because I see them all the time.

Another rare variety that is un-named. The spadix here is pink and the veins are pinkish red flowing to the green leaflet.

Say hello to Lady Jane, this is one of the rarest plants, the flower is actually not spectacular, what makes it unique is the foliage. It is the only variegated anthurium grown at this nursery, and its not for sale.

Don’t you love the variegation of the leaves? I want some of these, don’t you ?

Wasn’t that a fun tour, I hope you enjoyed a visit here at Tikal nursery in Hawaii.

17 comments:

Noel these anthuriums are just wonderful - I too agree with you that the red one is one I keep clear of due to it being seen in every garden centre - I prefer the burgundy one especially at Christmas time. I like the pink types the best - but yours are so unusual especially the double and the variagated one.

Oh, wow, Noel. "Proud" is the word to spring to mind when I see all these striking, exotic beauties. I like Obake Rainbow best of all... altho I could never imagine calling any of them "pedestrian." It just shows how familiarity can engender contempt. ;)

Hi Noel, here we go again. It is a great meme and thank you for creating it. I like Anthuriums. I grow a dark pink one in a pot for many years now. It still flowers wildly and I nearly took it for my post today! All the Anthuriums are such show offs! I have never seen an Anthurium nursery, lots of new ones come onto the market but my favourites are still the dark pink or red. Have a nice weekend. T.

This is the first time I've seen an Anthurium nursery ... great photos. I too am not a big fan of the red ... I have a purple and a white anthurium. I really loved your photo of the white ... it's a beauty. I'm so enjoying this meme ... great idea.

Pedestrian? I don't think so. I think anthuriums are very exotic looking. And these pictures! I would be overwhelmed to choose one from so much variety. It must be wonderful to live in a place where anthuriums and orchids are so common. I am truly jealous that your friend gets to work in such an environment everyday.

when i mentioned pedestrian, I was just referring to the true red variety, the typical red that is always exported and purchased in many nurseries and garden centers. but i do love all the other exciting hybrids ,variegated flowers and new colors combinations that are coming out in the marketplace and adding more dimension to this tropical plant.

Aloha Noel, you made me reminisce my wonderful memories of Hawaii. I've visited that nursery years ago, we've also been to the Mauna Loa macadamia farm and processing plant. Those anthuriums are really "katakam-takam", how do you say it in English! By the way my friend in UH is an anthurium breeder and already put her name beside the Sci name 'Amore'.

My post is not really loudly colored but i cant think of something to join you today. My loud and proud photos have already been broadcasted earlier in my blogs. Maybe next time. thanks.

What lovely photos, those are huge! Anthiriums are my favourite flower. I love them in the garden, and the most common one here is more of a pink colour. (I really want a red one, just have to find room!) I do have the little purple one which is very cute.

Aloha Noel, I do love all the variety in the Anthuriums, who knew? We certainly don't see them here. I can remember when I was in Art college, during long winters days in Calgary, I'd hoof over to the mall and buy some and bring them back to my studio to paint. Always cheered me up. Sorry, didn't participate but I'll try to make it for next month.

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Living in East Hawaii on the Big Island, I am amazed by the multitude of new plant genera that I've started to discover and become addicted to. Come and explore with me in finding new amazing plants, discover the variegated and colorful, rare specimens, developing my garden, garden design, learning about sustainability and just doing the naughty things that a plant fanatic typically won't do in public :)

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Writer, photographer, artist, food fanatic and wanderer,I love to visit and discover new places, exotic food and interesting people along my travels. I love to travel abroad and share new stories and images of my visits, food discoveries, culture/historic tours and trying something new and worth sharing. My photography and writing is a big part of the joy and creative process.
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